Ex-cop among trio held with pistol after high speed police chase

The fake licence plate after it was removed from the one it was pasted over.
The fake licence plate after it was removed from the one it was pasted over.

Three men, including an ex-police officer, were yesterday held with a pistol after they led police on a brief high speed chase in a vehicle outfitted with a fake licence plate.

Two of the men have been identified as former police constable Devon Chase, 30, of Hill Street, Albouystown, Georgetown and Eloy Livan, 28, of Lot 47 Richards Town, Lusignan, East Coast Demerara and also ‘C’ Field, Sophia. The third man refused to cooperate with the police during questioning.

Stabroek News was told that the false plate on the heavily-tinted grey Toyota Premio caught the attention of lawmen, who were in a police vehicle at the traffic light at the junction of Camp and Lamaha streets. After the men realised that they were being approached by the police, they reversed the car and sped east along Lamaha Street. They were chased by the police and intercepted at the junction of Lamaha and Republic streets after the driver of the car lost control and swerved off the road into a nearby trench.

A search of the car was carried out and the police recovered a 9 mm pistol and several matching rounds of live ammunition. A fake licence plate, “HB 7412,” was found to have been pasted over the vehicle’s original plate, “HC 7294.”

Up to last evening, the police were conducting investigations to ascertain if the weapon was used to commit any crime, as well as to determine the owner of the vehicle.